What the U.S. Public Thinks about Immigration-- and Why It Should Matter When We Attempt Reform
A Wising Up Citizen/Scholar Report
Charles D. Brockett, Ph.D.
This report describes major trends in U.S. public opinion that are directly relevant to the policy dispute over immigration occurring right now. Regardless of one's preferences on immigration, we all need to pay better attention to what the American public says.READ MORE
COMPLEX ALLEGIANCES Constellations of Immigration, Citizenship & Belonging READ MORE
WHAT THE NATURALIZED CITIZENSHIP PROJECT IS ABOUT & HOW YOU CAN JOIN US Finding the 'We' in 'Them', the 'Us' in 'You'
Universal Table/Wising Up Press has developed two anthologies focused on citizenship and constructive acculturation in order to add an engaged but also musing, exploratory voice to the current questions about immigration we face as a country. We do so with the hope of creating a more generous, nuanced and open conversation that acknowledges the genuine doubts and grievances on both sides. Our special focus is the social and psychological dynamics of naturalized citizenship.
It is our expectation that the experiences related in these anthologies will invite all of us, native-born and foreign-born citizens, recent and permanent residents, to think more deeply and clearly about what intentional commitments we all need to make as citizens in a country whose essential claim to unity is the voluntary, intentional commitment to the core values of individual equality and the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness made repeatedly by different waves of immigrants in whom we all find our own relatives. Complex Allegiances: Constellations of Immigration, Citizenship & Belonging explores many dimensions of citizenship, including dual citizenship, permanent residency, emigration, undocumented immigration, and different citizenship statuses within families and is a valuable expansion of the stories and experiences found inShifting Balance Sheets: Women's Stories of Naturalized Citizenship & Cultural Attachment. JOIN US IN A CONVERSATION ABOUT BELONGING
READ AND REFLECT Visit our library page and read through the excerpts from Complex Allegiances and Shifting Balance Sheets. Consider buying it and reading it, sharing it or what you learn from it with a family member, a friend, a neighbor, a teacher, or a librarian.
CREATE A Reading for Relation GROUP Using Shifting Balance Sheets as a catalyst for constructive, substantive conversations, create a discussion group anywhere that immigration is a hot button - with family, friends, neighbors, colleagues, members of your church, synagogue, mosque, or temple or school. Invite in people whose points of view, quite different from your own, you need to understand in order to understand the emotions and concerns on all sides. The book comes with many discussion questions which help you structure your sharing - and we're happy to consult on how to facilitate.
ORGANIZE A COMMUNITY CONVERSATION BETWEEN NATIVE-BORN AND FOREIGN-BORN MEMBERS OF YOUR COMMUNITY Help facilitate a more nuanced and empathic understanding of the complexities of the immigration experience for your native-born and foreign-born neighbors and yourself, share your own story and listen to the stories of others and begin to discover where and how we all can begin to genuinely say 'We' not 'Them', 'Us' not 'You.'
